


The Fabled Point of No Return

by AngelSelene



Series: The Precipice Collection [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Found Family, Gen, Itachi takes Sasuke, Uzushiogakure | Hidden Eddy Village
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:40:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26149603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelSelene/pseuds/AngelSelene
Summary: When Itachi flees the night of the Uchiha massacre, he takes Sasuke with him.Now complete!
Relationships: Uchiha Itachi & Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto
Series: The Precipice Collection [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1907182
Comments: 67
Kudos: 214





	1. The Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kenda1L](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kenda1L/gifts).



> Title inspired by:  
> Zach Davis Dec 2012 
> 
> [The Precipice ](https://hellopoetry.com/words/precipice/) (follow link for full poem)
> 
> The precipice, that heart-strung edge  
> Feet resting on the threshold  
> The fabled point of no return

The deed is done, and Itachi feels… _empty_. Exhausted. Should it have been this easy? This simple? It’s hard to believe the Mangenkyo makes this much of a difference. But his parents were the last in what had been a whole district of his family.

The door opens, and Itachi doesn’t even think—moving to block Sasuke’s sight, first by placing himself in the line of it, then by covering his brother’s eyes with his hand and towing him out of the room, slamming the door behind them. There’s no one left to complain about the slam anyway.

“Nii-san!” Sasuke sounds confused and afraid.

As he should. They are the last, now. But Sasuke shouldn’t have to see, shouldn’t have to live with the memory of Itachi standing over their dead parents.

“Nii-san!” Sasuke complains again, but Itachi doesn’t let him go until they reach the kitchen.

The eerily clean kitchen.

“What’s going on?” Sasuke demands, eyes large and afraid.

Itachi kind of hates himself for this. He wonders if this was the right thing to do—put the village above his family, his clan.

Danzo had insisted it was necessary. With his family’s blood on his hands, Itachi isn’t so sure.

“ _Nii-san!_ ” Sasuke demands. “Where are mom and dad? Why is everyone—” He stops, cutting himself off. He’s only eight, but he’s a child of ninja in a ninja village. He’s no fool, and he’s seen the bodies.

Corpses.

“We have to leave,” Itachi says. He’s not supposed to take Sasuke, he knows. And someday, he’s going to have to explain what he’s done, why he’s done it. His name is going to be reviled, but the village will stand. He tells himself it was worth it. He chose the village above his family, but…

Given what has just occurred, he doesn’t trust the village with his brother. So there’s only one option left—he must take Sasuke with him.

“ _Nii-san!_ ” Sasuke protests again, digging in his feet when Itachi grabs his wrist to drag him to his room so they can grab some things for Sasuke. This wasn’t in the plan, and Itachi can’t grab much, but they should grab at least a few changes of clothes for Sasuke.

“Our parents are dead,” Itachi tells him flatly. “The rest of the Uchiha are dead. We are the only ones left. We need to leave.”

Sasuke stares at him with wide, dark eyes, and Itachi’s heart aches at the pain and sorrow in them. He hates himself a little more for being the one to put it there.

“But…”

“We need to leave,” Itachi repeats.

Lip trembling, eyes watery, Sasuke forces himself straight, reminding himself that he’s a child of ninja, not some civilian, and he doesn’t cry, just nods, too solemn. He sniffles though, because even if the tears don’t fall, they’re making his nose run.

He doesn’t resist when Itachi drags him to his room. He finds Sasuke’s backpack in the closet, but it’s child-sized and smaller than Itachi would prefer. He doesn’t want to take the time to write up a sealing scroll to fill with Sasuke’s things, and besides, they really _can’t_ afford to take much. If possible, he’d prefer it looks like Sasuke vanished without any planning.

A clock ticks in the back of Itachi’s head. He feels like he’s running out of time, so he has Sasuke pack three changes of clothing, lets him take one photo. Before they leave, Itachi also grabs a small stuffed, spotted black cat from where it’s wedged between the wall and Sasuke’s bed. It’s not much bigger than a kitten, and their father had hated it and Sasuke’s attachment to it. A comfort object. A sign of weakness to their father. Itachi had gifted it to Sasuke when he was all of two, and no matter how derisive their father had been, Sasuke has never grown out of his attachment to it. Itachi hands it to Sasuke, and his jaw trembles again as he cuddles it close.

Anyone who knows Sasuke well enough to know about the stuffed cat is dead. He’s deprived his brother of almost everything else in the world tonight. He won’t deprive him of this small comfort.

“Let’s go,” Itachi says.

Sasuke sniffs again, but he straightens and tries to be brave.

Itachi chose the village over his clan.

He will not choose it over his brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a plot bunny that [Kenda1L](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kenda1L/pseuds/Kenda1L) shot at me, and when I couldn't write anything else, this is what I ended up with. I have an idea for maybe another chapter? Not sure if I have enough for a whole long-running fic, but let me know if you liked it.


	2. The Container

The alarms haven’t sounded yet—there’s no one _to_ sound them, and the clan has thrown enough of a fit about Konoha patrols wandering into their territory lately, that no one is likely to try to impinge on the clan’s autonomy. So even though the clock in Itachi’s head ticks ever louder, they do have some breathing room before anyone realizes what’s happened. Before Itachi officially becomes a missing-nin.

So he’s not rushing Sasuke quite as much as he should be. Not yet, anyway. Later, Itachi will probably put him on his back and make better time putting distance between them and Konoha, but right now, getting caught acting like they’re fleeing would be more dangerous than just being out at odd hours.

He doesn’t expect to come across the Kyuubi container. Itachi is ANBU, so he knows about the special watch on the container, even though he’s never been on it himself. He’s about to course correct to avoid catching the container’s overseers, when Sasuke tugs on his shirt.

“We’re not coming back, are we?” he asks, keeping his voice low. Despite Itachi’s best efforts, Sasuke is smart enough to have figured out that there’s no one left. That if anyone _had_ been left, the alarms would be blaring by now.

“No,” Itachi confirms, taking his wrist, intending to tow him out of the path of the wayward container.

But Sasuke holds his ground, and his eyes are fixed on the container’s form. He’s far enough away that only that bright golden shock of hair and Uchiha eyes—even if they aren’t Sharingan yet—allow Sasuke to see him. He’s curled up in a small clearing, looking like the thrown-away child he is.

That doesn’t mean he isn’t being watched. Itachi has overheard more than one ANBU complain—if only among themselves—about the container going AWOL and having to track him down.

“We need to go,” Itachi tells Sasuke, but Sasuke’s eyes are still on that golden spot.

“It’s just us now, isn’t it?” Sasuke asks. The question makes Itachi flinch internally, even though there’s no accusation in Sasuke’s voice.

“Yes,” he replies, the word clipped, but he _really_ wants them to get moving.

Sasuke still doesn’t look at him. “Naruto doesn’t have anyone either.”

Right. The boy’s name is Naruto. _Uzumaki Naruto_. Itachi may have only been five when the Kyuubi attacked the village, but he remembers the Fourth. He remembers his wife even better, since Kushina had been friends with his mother. He can’t imagine that she would be pleased at the way the village has been raising her precious son, but it really isn’t his problem—

Sasuke’s still staring, fixed, on the container.

It looks like Sasuke’s going to make it his problem.

“We need to leave,” he repeats. He feels like he’s said it a thousand times already, but it apparently bears repeating yet again.

“Naruto doesn’t have anyone either,” Sasuke repeats himself and finally looks up at Itachi. “Can… maybe he can come with us?”

Itachi’s instincts say _absolutely not_. He doesn’t know how he’s going to take care of Sasuke on his own, never mind taking on a second kid, and one of reputably little innate ninja talent, regardless of his prestigious parentage.

“I didn’t know you were friends,” he says, stalling, mostly because he doesn’t want to risk Sasuke throwing a fit.

“We’re not,” Sasuke admits, but his eyes have gone back to the container. “But…” he trails off, as if trying to think of how to explain, before he shrugs. “He’s alone. And so are we. Maybe we’ll be less lonely together.”

Itachi has to remind himself that while Sasuke is smart, he’s not anywhere near Itachi’s level of genius. He’s more of a normal kid, and it’s normal to have those ties to people, to want to protect them. Sasuke’s also a sensitive child; it figures that his first, bitter taste of having almost no one would make him empathize with the container, who has never had anyone himself.

A dozen reasons to refuse are all on the tip of Itachi’s tongue, but none find their way past his teeth. Sasuke has lost everything, and he’s starting to process that already, even if it hasn’t really sunk in. If this kid can help keep him from breaking beyond all hope of repair, maybe bringing him with isn’t the worst idea? It would give Sasuke someone to play with, someone more personable to interact with. It’s not like the village is doing a good job of taking care of the kid anyway. Itachi and Sasuke could hardly be worse.

He kneels down to meet Sasuke’s eyes. “Stay here. Do not move. I will ask him, but if he says no, we go, okay?”

It’s unlikely that anyone will think to ask the container if he’s a witness to them leaving, and if he decides not to come, well, Itachi can deal with that too.

Sasuke nods solemnly and huddles down behind a tree.

Itachi gives him a bare nod of approval, then activates his Sharingan, looking for the ANBU watcher. He finds them, pulls his own mask back down, then goes to meet them. A little Sharingan-backed genjutsu is all he needs to convince the watcher that he’s their replacement—apparently it’s about time for the watch to change _anyway_ , so it’s almost laughably easy—then Itachi takes off his mask and appears before the kid in the clearing.

He’s asleep on a small, frog-shaped backpack. It’s stuffed to exploding almost. His clothing is new, if cheap. The village is willing to spend some money on his material needs, but Itachi is sure emotional ones aren’t being met. It looks like he was planning on running away and got tired. He’s sure that in the morning, the child would go back and abandon the idea, but it seems serendipitous that—of any night he could have decided to run—he chose this night.

Itachi bends down and shakes the boy’s shoulder. He resists waking up, trying to bat Itachi’s hand away. Really, the child has no ninja instincts to speak of. Is Itachi really considering this?

Looking with Sharingan eyes to where Sasuke is hiding, there is a raw longing in Sasuke’s eyes that Itachi has denied countless times in Sasuke’s life. Itachi he can’t quite bring himself to deny Sasuke _tonight_ , though.

“Wake up,” Itachi says, a little more harshly than he means to, but this is taking way too long.

“Huh?” the boy asks fuzzily. He’s slowly coming awake, but Itachi can’t wait for him to be fully alert. He glances up, meets Sasuke’s eyes where he’s peering around the tree, and waves him forward.

By the time Sasuke joins them in the clearing and kneels down beside him, the container is awake enough that he recognizes Sasuke.

“What are you doing here?” he asks Sasuke, guarded and suspicious.

“What are you doing here?” Sasuke parrots back.

“I was… camping!” the container says, defensive. 

He’s an absolutely _abysmal_ liar. He’s worse than _Sasuke_. Itachi wonders again why he’s even entertaining this.

“Now you answer me!” the container demands. “What are you doing here?”

“We’re leaving,” Sasuke says simply, and that silences the container more effectively than anything Itachi thinks he might have said.

“You’re… really leaving? When will you be back?” Clear blue eyes flicker between Itachi and Sasuke as if trying to decide how honest they’re being.

“We’re not,” Itachi tells him flatly.

“But—”

“The clan is… gone,” Sasuke says, pausing before the word, like he’s using a word that he’s not entirely sure of the meaning of. “We’re going away. Just us, ‘cause we don’t have anyone else.”

The container blinks at him, thinking. “So… why are you talking to me?” he asks.

“Because you don’t have anyone either, so I thought…”

The container stares at Sasuke for long enough that Itachi says, “We need to leave.”

Sasuke stands. “I…” he starts, then blushes. “I just thought we should offer. If you don’t have anything to stay for either.”

The silence stretches for long enough that Sasuke’s face falls and Itachi opens his mouth to tell Sasuke to forget about it, when the container jumps to his own feet and says, “Okay!”

Itachi blinks at him, honestly surprised. He didn’t think that the boy would really come.

“You’ll come?” Sasuke asks. “We’re going far away, and we’re going to have to run. It might be dangerous. You’ll have to keep up.”

“I can keep up with you, _teme_!” the container asserts. “Just you watch me.”

A little smirk quirks Sasuke’s lips, but he just says, “Then prove it, _usura tonkachi_.”

Both pairs of eyes turn to focus expectantly on Itachi, and he wonders, yet again, what he thinks he’s doing.

But Sasuke normally doesn’t ask for things, and Itachi can’t quite say no.

Mentally shrugging, he turns and begins to lead them deeper into the forest. Their own sense of competition will probably push them both, so there’s that at least.

And really, Itachi is already going to be an S-class missing-nin after this, so how much worse could taking the village container with him make it? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I apparently was not done with this. I have an idea for probably another direct follow chapter. Otherwise, if I revisit this world, I'll probably set it up as a series and add little additional vignettes or miniadventures to it. It's definitely _not_ going to be a contiguous longfic. Anyway, I hope it lived up to the first chapter.


	3. The Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How much worse could taking the village container make it?

_How much worse could taking the village container make it?_

Much worse, apparently. Much, _much_ worse.

It’s been over a week since they left Konoha, and, to Naruto’s credit, he’s kept up and hasn’t complained. Itachi is spending every spare moment he has when he’s not feeding them or dealing with hunter-nin trying to pound every bit of jutsu and skill into their heads he can. If they’re not eating, sleeping, or running, they’re training. Itachi never expected he’d be such a slave driver, but although the boys have been run ragged, they seem to understand how important it is.

They _have_ been making progress, even just in the past week. Nothing motivates someone like absolute necessity, but, as he half-hoped they might, they treat everything as a competition. It drives them to work until they practically pass out from exhaustion, and Itachi has even had to reel them back a couple of times, because if they overwork themselves too much, he’s going to have to physically _drag_ them with him.

He really needs a better plan than just running until they’re too far away to chase or until he’s killed enough hunter-nin to earn a _flee on sight_ rating.

A not-small part of Itachi would like to throw Naruto back at Konoha if it would get the hunter-nin off his back—Danzo was _supposed_ to keep them from pursuing him too diligently, but he’s apparently upset that deal. Naruto is loud and obnoxious and almost painfully optimistic. That said, Itachi is under no illusions that Sasuke wouldn’t be devastated to lose his friend so quickly on the heels of his clan. No, Itachi can’t give Naruto back. He made his bed by caving to let Sasuke ask him to come with, so now he has to sleep in it.

If his irritation makes him a little more vicious with their pursuers, well, he’s getting really tired of this game anyway.

Naruto isn’t a complete ballast though. He’s a consummate prankster, and he’s even somewhat clever—for an eight-year-old, anyway. He might prefer to wear obnoxiously bright colors if given the choice—Itachi hadn’t, clothing him in browns and greens that blended _into_ the forest, not orange that made them a glaring target—but he has some innate ninja sneakiness senses that isn’t a total waste of talent.

Speaking of talent, Naruto also isn’t talentless like Itachi had been led to believe. He’s struggling with any jutsu or chakra molding, but a quick glance with the Sharingan is all it takes for Itachi to understand _why_ he’s struggling.

The boy is an Uzumaki, a clan once famed for their massive chakra reserves. Naruto has so much chakra, he overpowers _everything_ he tries to do. Any jutsu that takes minimal chakra is a disaster. But it’s not a problem that any clan outside of the Uzumaki likely ever had, and unless someone was looking at him with a doujutsu that can perceive chakra, there’s no way anyone would really be able to tell that’s what Naruto is doing wrong.

So Itachi has set them both to working on fine chakra control and water walking. Tree climbing would be the better starting point, but it would also leave glaringly obvious signs of where they’ve been, so water walking it is. Itachi could do it when he was four—they should be able to manage it at eight, right?

He sighs and plucks Naruto out of the small pond they’ve stopped by this time. Both he and Sasuke are showing improvement on the still surface of the little pond—it’s certainly much easier than walking on a moving body of water like a river or an ocean—but they’re still mostly only able to take a couple of steps before they splash down.

At least they’re getting washed often.

“Sorry, Itachi-nii-chan,” Naruto says, sounding exhausted and pathetic. Sasuke is still sitting on the bank, looking like he’s seriously considering another attempt, but also looking like he’s going to pass out on the spot if he does.

“That’s enough for now,” Itachi says. “Eat up and get some sleep.” He pushes them to the little cave that is serving as their shelter for now.

He’s been having to use clones to set watch because the boys, even when he does reel them in, are working themselves to their absolute limits. After a week of this and dealing with hunter-nins, though, Itachi’s about at his own limit. He needs a better plan.

Defecting to another village is out of the question, even though it’s tempting at the moment. Frankly, he doubts any of the other major ninja countries would risk Konoha’s wrath by harboring him, openly or not. Even if they would, Itachi can’t risk someone realizing that Naruto is a container. So, another village is not an option. That effectively leaves him with the option of being permanently nomadic—which is what he had loosely planned with Sasuke—or finding shelter somewhere that they can hide.

After a week traveling, he’s quickly coming to the conclusion that the nomad model isn’t going to work. At least, it won’t work until the boys are older and less of a liability. They need somewhere sheltered that they can guard reliably and train in peace. But a normal village seems out of the question. Sasuke is too young and Naruto too much of a wildcard for Itachi to claim they’re orphans, even if it’s true. They’d simply draw too much attention.

That leaves him needing somewhere private, somewhere abandoned where they can make shelter and train, but someone is unlikely to track them to. There are probably places like that in Sand, but Itachi doesn’t relish living in the desert with resources scare. He’d prefer somewhere near water, somewhere defensible but not obvious. There are probably hundreds of small islands and atolls in Water country that they could make a home out of one of them, but an island makes Itachi uneasy.

Naruto and Sasuke are so tired that they’re having trouble keeping their eyes open long enough to eat the cooked fish and the baked root vegetables Itachi found, leaning against each other like they’re the only think holding one another up. Sasuke had grabbed Naruto’s obnoxiously bright orange jacket and slung it around both of their shoulders, which only makes them huddle together more, because although it’s big on Naruto, it’s not _that_ big.

Itachi’s eyes land on the spiral sigil on the sleeve, and he suddenly feels very stupid. The Land of Whirlpools had a thriving ninja city once, but, if Itachi remembers correctly, it’s been abandoned for _years_. Long enough that Itachi only knows about it because Shisui had mentioned it. He knows roughly where it was. It’s in the complete opposite direction they’ve been traveling, but doubling back might not be a bad idea anyway, and few of Itachi’s generation have even heard of the destroyed city.

_Uzushio._

It could be dangerous. Who knows what traps might lie in the ruins of a hidden city, but then, running with no plan is also dangerous. That Itachi had no plan meant that there was no way to predict what direction they’d been moving in, so no one could get ahead of them. If he does have a destination, then they need to move faster and lose their tails.

He looks up to inform Sasuke and Naruto that he has a new plan, but they have both passed out. Their fish have been eaten to the barest bones, there’s no sign of the root vegetables, so in their hunger, they consumed every bit of them, and the only reason they haven’t fallen over is because of the way they’re propped up against each other, the jacket keeping them huddled together.

Sighing, Itachi cleans up their refuse and starts erasing all the signs of their passing he can. He uses some mundane branches and fallen leaves and some brambles to mostly hide the entrance of the small cave. They’re going to need at least a few hours of solid sleep before they can get moving, so Itachi might as well try to get some too.

When they wake, they’ll have distance to cover again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thought about waiting to post this till tomorrow, but I have no self-control. Enjoy!


	4. The Ruined City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Has the ocean really reclaimed the entire area that was once the great hidden city? Was the destruction of the village this complete?

If the past month has done anything, it’s made the need for a stable base absolutely obvious. The boys are doing their best, but there is apparently a massive divide between Itachi’s innate genius and the ability these two eight-year-olds have. They’re doing their absolute best, and, to their credit, they’re both improving, but they also have sheer physical limitations that are… frustrating. They need more rest than Itachi can risk giving them, especially with all the energy they’re expending on training.

They can now reliably walk and even run on still water, but running water, even if it’s slow, still dunks them more often than not. It is progress, but it’s frustratingly slow, and he’s had to make them practice less than he would prefer because Sasuke’s running on the verge of dangerous chakra exhaustion, and they just can’t resist _pushing_ each other.

If they keep it up, they’re going to become an outright liability, which is the main reason Itachi has dialed back their training. That hasn’t stopped them from sneaking out while he’s trying to get _some_ sleep, and practicing despite his command. He’d be more irritated about it, but it only took two weeks for them to manage to sneak past him without waking him, and, honestly, he finds that, at least, pretty impressive.

He didn’t let them make the move for Uzushio until he was _certain_ they had lost their tails. It has meant a lot of backtracking, wandering, making random decisions, moving only vaguely in the direction of the ruined city rather than risking anyone figuring out where they’re going. He doesn’t _think_ anyone will—speaking of Uzushio is all but taboo in Konoha these days, and Shisui shouldn’t have told Itachi about it—but it seems an oddly obvious choice to Itachi. A ruined ninja village ripe for hiding in? Why _wouldn’t_ someone come to that conclusion, except that they just wouldn’t think that Itachi would even know about it?

The answer to that question becomes apparent when they finally make it to the outskirts of the Land of Whirlpools in the small boat Itachi had commandeered.

It’s not just in ruins, it looks like there’s almost nothing left. Has the ocean really reclaimed the entire area that was once the great hidden city? Was the destruction of the village _this_ complete?

“What is this place?” Naruto asks, because he _always_ asks questions before Sasuke does. Sasuke was raised to be seen and not heard, a disappointing second son in Itachi’s shadow until recently. He still hesitates before questioning anything Itachi does. Naruto, Itachi has learned, has been forced to demand any scrap of acknowledgement he’s ever been given, so while Sasuke will follow Itachi’s lead almost blindly, Naruto challenges him and asks questions.

Sasuke is starting to ask questions too, unwilling to be outdone by Naruto, even in this, and although part of Itachi thinks that it’s good for Sasuke to learn, it’s irritating to be questioned at nearly every turn.

Especially because Naruto has all the tact and subtlety of a fist in the face.

“Hey, Itachi-nii-san, why are we here?” Naruto persists, because he _never_ just lets it go unless Sasuke tells him to knock it off. Even then, it was only a fifty-fifty shot.

“This is where we’ve been planning to stay, isn’t it?” Sasuke asks, hesitantly, but Itachi is glad one of the boys is showing any sign of basic reasoning.

“ _Here_?” Naruto replies. “But there’s nothing here.”

“This was a great hidden village,” Itachi says.

Both boys look at him, both confused, then trade looks with each other. They’ve been doing that more and more often, having their own conversations, conversations he’s not included in on. Itachi will worry about it more when they aren’t still painfully easy to read.

“Let’s get the boat in and tie it up. These are the lowlands. There might be more further inland,” Itachi suggests, because, really, there’s nothing here on the outskirts worth inhabiting.

The boys trade a look again, and he sees Naruto’s quirked eyebrow—a silent question—and Sasuke’s barely perceptible shrug— _why not, might as well_ —and they get back to rowing. Itachi had steered, so the boys had to do the hard work. Besides, the exercise was good for them.

He directs them up an inlet waterway, but still, everything at water’s edge is ruined beyond use. Finally, he sees the remnants of a dock that’s partially sheltered under a half-collapsed building and gets the boys to tie up their little dinghy.

Not that he expects anyone to come near and even suspect that someone else is here, but, well, it doesn’t pay to be careless. He leads the way carefully down what’s left of the dock, then through what’s left of ruined roadways, making their way inland, and, Itachi notices, _upward_.

There’s enough of the roads left intact that at least the hike isn’t _that_ terrible, although the island is far more humid than Itachi is used to. It’s certainly easier than hiking through forest would be, though the jungle is on this island has been reclaiming the ruins. It’s oddly beautiful, almost fantastical. Itachi’s keeping his senses keyed for any other signs of life, but the only things he’s seen so far are animals.

Then they get to the gate. Apparently the city down at the water’s edge was a support village, with the hidden village itself sitting atop the highest point on the island. The massive gates are broken and lay in pieces before the broken roadway, and much of the protective walls have taken serious damage. Itachi wishes he knew more about this city, but he’s honestly lucky he remembered that it was here at all.

At least here there are buildings still standing, although a lot are burned-out shells, mostly reclaimed by the forest. He can hear water running ahead of them and wonders at it. This high up, it must be some sort of waterfall. The city seems to have been built in concentric tiers, leading up to the ruins of what must have once been a magnificent citadel. He wonders again how this place had fallen, because from everything he’s seen so far, it should have been a veritable fortress. Whoever came at this city had wanted it destroyed _badly_.

_Who ruled here?_ he wonders. _What made you so terrifying that you had to be erased this thoroughly?_

Spirals must have been the default insignia because even in the ruins, they’re _everywhere._

Itachi looks up at the tiers toward the citadel. Really, if the citadel is intact at all, it’s the ideal location, and enough of it still stands that parts of it must still be useful. He’s tired and the boys are dragging, so he takes a moment to check their chakra levels.

Both of their chakra reserves have grown over the past month of intensive training, which is a relief. For some, draining chakra reserves to their near limit works like stretching muscles does—where if you stretch every day, the muscles get used to the exercise and after a few days, one might notice they can stretch farther than they could when they started, make the stretch easier. Not everyone’s reserves work like that though, there are some for whom draining chakra too low can cause their bodies to be miserly with it, storing it in ways that are less easy to tap and use. Itachi had been relatively certain that both Sasuke and Naruto would fall under the first category, Sasuke because he was Itachi’s brother, Naruto because of his already massive reserves, but it’s still one less stressor to have it proven.

While the boys are tired, their reserves are as full as they’ve been in weeks. Itachi hasn’t allowed them to use chakra all day, instead making them use pure muscle strength to row out to the island. 

It looks like it’s time to learn something about chakra-powered jumps because looking at the structure of the city, it’s going to take _hours_ to get where he wants to go. The boys aren’t going to last that long, and if he’s honest, Itachi’s not sure he will either. His own reserves have been on the verge of dangerously low for weeks, which is another reason he made them row while he rested. The Sharingan is a chakra-demanding bloodline, and using it as much as he has lately has been inadvisable to say the least.

Fortunately, the skills they’ve been using to waterwalk easily translate into chakra-enhanced jumps, and both boys copy his example easily. It means in less than an hour, even with taking breaks, they make it up to the citadel.

“Wow….” Naruto says, staring up at the huge columns that still somehow support the massive dome. The doors are destroyed, but that’s hardly surprising. It’s a stone structure, unlike most of the buildings in Uzushio were, and it hasn’t been reclaimed by the creeping jungle nearly as much as the rest of the remaining buildings.

“Can we go ahead?” Sasuke asks this time. The mystery of the citadel and maybe the rush from so quickly mastering a new technique giving them a second wind. Naruto is all but vibrating out of his skin, but he _is_ waiting for Itachi’s verdict.

“Stay together,” he warns. “And be careful. Who knows how intact the floors are.”

They trade massive grins and dash off. They’re getting faster, and their steps lighter. They’re still not _quite_ as silent as Itachi would prefer, but they are making strides in the right direction. Itachi would be more worried if this place weren’t so obviously utterly abandoned. They haven’t seen any signs of any human habitation anywhere. If he’s honest, he’s a little surprised. There must have been survivors, and this city, obvious even through the crumbling remains, must have been great. Were there truly so few left that they _all_ abandoned it?

The other thing he hasn’t seen is much in the way of bodies. He’s sure some of the ruined buildings down by the water probably have bodies of people who died and weren’t safe to retrieve, but in the city proper? He hasn’t seen a one, though here in the citadel, there are faded remains of blood that have been too protected to be worn away. That’s also a good sign for the integrity of the building.

He wanders through the lower levels, making his way up. He finds dozens of rooms—some are barracks, many were larders or store rooms, but many are also communal areas. Though much of the furniture is in poor shape if not outright rotten, the citadel, on the whole, is still solid, still strong. Such a large, empty building could be a little unnerving, but neither of the boys had seemed bothered by it, and Itachi isn’t superstitious.

Honestly, the place is enormous enough that the boys could probably spend months exploring it fully. It’s a decent way from the water’s edge, but, really, it will do the boys no harm to learn to cover that distance quickly, and there are probably other animals that can be hunted in the jungle.

Itachi finds the remains of a massive kitchen, and there are plenty of serviceable cooking utensils, pots, pans, and dishes, at least. Even a solid cast-iron teapot.

They’ll need to make their own furniture to replace what they actually need, and he may need to go back to the mainland for linens, clothing, and spices, but next to the kitchen, he finds a garden. Although it’s overgrown and long gone wild, he still identifies at least a dozen kitchen herbs, the fruit trees are still bearing fruit, and he’s sure there are root vegetables that can be salvaged and added to round out their diet. Really, the only thing that seems to be missing is rice. Itachi saw some rice terraces on the way up, but they long ago went foul. Unlike the fruits, vegetables, and herbs in this garden—which can all grow wild—rice requires careful cultivation and hours upon hours of backbreaking labor. With all of their training, the boys won’t have the time, and he certainly won’t, so rice is another staple they’ll need to secure.

All in all, though, he’s pleased. He can likely take work in the relatively nearby Mist and Waterfall countries, if they need money, and there are hundreds of islands in this sea where they could lead pursuit astray and vanish into. This island is obviously as good as taboo, so no one will expect them to be here, and the citadel is still strong. Even with just Itachi, it could be made into a near fortress again.

“Nii-san!” Sasuke calls out from somewhere above.

“Itachi-nii-san!” Naruto echoes, laughter in his voice, so Itachi takes his time finding them.

They’re in a fifth-floor corridor, standing outside a doorway, Naruto all but bouncing in glee, but Sasuke looks quietly pleased too.

“Look at what we found, Itachi-nii-san!” Naruto says, pointing into the doorway.

The doorway was obviously once hidden, but time and neglect had allowed the boys to find the outline of the door and pry it open. He frowns at them. “You should have called for me before opening it,” he tells them.

Naruto rests his hands behind his neck, impervious to Itachi’s censure.

Sasuke, as usual, is a little more cowed. Itachi’s influence over Sasuke, at least, is still strong.

“We figured that anything this old had probably degraded,” he defends. “And we didn’t go in, just opened it and looked.”

“Yeah, because Sasuke-scary-cat wouldn’t—”

“Good job, Sasuke,” Itachi praises. “Until you have had more training, you shouldn’t be going into any hidden rooms you might find here before I clear them.”

That makes Naruto grump, but not for long. It’s never for long.

Itachi activates his Sharingan again, and takes a good look around the framework. There are barest, almost invisible traces of chakra, but they’re faded and probably won’t work anymore. The physical traps he locates, are not as worn out. He shoos the boys out of the way, leans back himself, then wastes the chakra for a clone to let it set most of them off. With the boys, it’s simpler just to set them off than to try to painstakingly disarm them.

Once he’s relatively sure the coast is clear, he shoves the door open wider than the boys had been able to, and gets a good look at the items.

It’s definitely a weapons cache, and it’s been very well-sealed from the elements. Aside from a thin layer of dust that’s settled on things, everything looks to be in excellent condition, even the scrolls on the shelves. Even the inkwells that have gone dry likely just need to be rehydrated.

There are a _lot_ of scrolls, talisman papers, tags, ink, and brushes, in fact. More than Itachi would expect, though there’s a respectable amount of typical ninja weapons, stocks of kunai, shuriken, senbon, ninja wire, and even less typical things, like naginata, a few katana placed with care on a display, and a set of blank-plated forehead protectors.

He’ll have to take a more thorough look at them later because an entire shelf of linens catches his eye. Extra storage? Or in case this had to be used as a bolt hole? Well, aside from the dust on them, they’re nicer than anything the three of them have slept on since leaving Konoha. He pulls one futon set down, hands the massive bundle to Sasuke, who passes it to Naruto before accepting the second one from Itachi. Itachi takes the third one for himself, then hurries them out.

“But!” Naruto protests.

“Everything in there has been preserved. We want it to stay that way, which means closing it back up. We know where it is now. I’m sure you’re hungry and tired,” Itachi says reasonably.

As if on cue, both Sasuke and Naruto’s stomachs growl, and they both blush.

“Did you find a suitable room to stay in?” Itachi asks. The floors are mostly stone, and so far, aside from a few that were obviously broken through, he hasn’t seen many that aren’t sturdy.

“Over here, Nii-san,” Sasuke says, leading the way, only to have Naruto jostle him and try to run ahead. Apparently Sasuke can’t keep up with Naruto’s seemingly boundless energy either, because he sighs and just lets Naruto scamper ahead.

The rooms they’ve discovered must have been the Kage’s, or someone of prestigious rank. There’s the master bedroom, an attached washroom and bath, with, to Itachi’s utter shock, still running water when he tries the tap, though it takes a few minutes for it to run clear. If the taps all work, that will make things much simpler. There are at least two connected rooms, one clearly a mistress’s suite because it’s connected by another once-hidden doorway. It’s dusty and needs to be aired out, but the bed is sturdy and there are linens and clothing in this hidden away closet that Itachi can probably sell for a fine price. It’s a shame the bed is too dusty to sleep in tonight.

“I need one of you to come with me down to the kitchen and scrub some pots.” The pots might be there, but like most things, grime and dust have found their way in over the decades. “The other needs to air out the futons.”

The boys look at each other. “I’ll do the pots,” Naruto declares. He rubs under his nose. “All the dust makes me sneeze.”

Sasuke nods, looking relieved.

“Beware of the railings,” Itachi cautions. “Make sure they’re sound before trying to put the futons over them.”

“Can I string up some ninja wire and use that instead?” he asks.

“That will work. You might need to sweep in here too.”

Sasuke groans and Naruto cheers, but he doesn’t complain. Really, they could spend _months_ trying to clean this place. Obviously they only need to clean the places they use the most, but if they planned to do the whole thing, it _could_ take months.

Naruto follows Itachi down. They clean and cook, bringing the meal up to Sasuke rather than calling Sasuke down. Itachi is confident that once the boys stop moving, they’ll be out shortly.

His prediction comes true. Full bellies and soft, if slightly stale-smelling, futons are all they need. They’ve barely set aside their bowls and utensils before they’re out cold, cuddled up where their futons are pushed together. Itachi has tried separating them, but they always gravitate back toward one another, on one notable occasion, Naruto getting up and sleepwalking to Sasuke’s side, so he’s given up.

Itachi gets up and forces the balcony doors closed. They’d been shoved in, but not badly broken. It’s humid, and the open doors would probably give welcome air circulation, but Itachi’s paranoia won’t allow it. He gets them as closed as they can, assures himself if anyone comes in that way, it will make a terrible racket, then closes the main door, which, surprisingly is not broken and still has the crossbar to bar it. He sets some ninja wire and basic traps across the doors and windows, and then shoves his futon up next to the boys’.

The soft sounds of their breathing have become his own personal lullaby, the sign that there is still good in the world, still something worth living for. He doesn’t know when it became _their_ breath, and not just Sasuke’s, but as much as Naruto can irritate him, he and Sasuke are now inextricably entwined in his mind.

As long as he keeps them safe and teaches them to be strong, stronger than anyone else, that’s all that’s important now. It seems like this ruined city will be the perfect place to do that.

He doesn’t curl up with them, but he’s close enough to let their breathing lull him to sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think there's one more chapter to this part. I hope this didn't get too worldbuildy. The idea of Uzushio fascinates me more than the meager glimpses we got in canon, so I'm running with it.


	5. The Library

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Do you want to go back to Konoha?” Itachi asks.

Time seems to move strangely in Uzushio. Perhaps it’s just because it’s only the three of them on the island, the lack of interaction with the outside world, except for the occasional trip. With few exceptions, they find everything they need if not in the citadel, then on the island itself, so there’s no real _need_ to go far. 

Itachi is still leery of getting too comfortable. Successfully getting away seems too easy. He’s doing his best to instill vigilance and a certain healthy paranoia into the boys, but it’s not taking as well as he would like. To their credit, they listen, and they’re doing their best but, well, there are reasons they were still in the Academy and not near genin, much less higher ranked. 

Sparring with them, training with them, it’s hard to remember that he was already a genin at their age. They’re improving rapidly—continuing to push one another much harder than he thinks either would progress independently—but it’s hard to imagine them reaching chuunin level in a year or two. At least right now. 

He watches as his clone lazily blocks another kunai back in Naruto’s direction while he slings another senbon in Sasuke’s. Naruto deflects it at where Itachi’s real body is seated. Cheeky. Itachi catches it and tosses it back at Naruto’s feet, disrupting his concentration just enough that he splashes down into the water. 

Itachi blinks away the Sharingan he was using to watch them and their chakra usage, then dismisses his clone as Sasuke walks over to pull Naruto back out. They’re doing this exercise on top of the waters at the base of the massive waterfall that backs the citadel. They’re rough and challenging to waterwalk on, and both boys have become very stable even in the sometimes unpredictable waters, but Naruto still struggles to focus his chakra, and the exact wrong distraction can dump him back into the water. 

It’s definitely not a lack of chakra causing the issue, nor a lack of willpower to make it behave. Itachi has seen plenty of ninja waterwalk with his sharingan, but he’s never seen the unruly chakra behavior that Naruto has. It’s definitely related to his seal, but it seems to make his chakra actively resist molding. 

Naruto is usually a good sport about it, and Sasuke doesn’t harass him, understanding without Itachi telling him that the fault isn’t Naruto’s laziness or lack of ability. That said, if even Itachi finds it mildly infuriating, he can only imagine how much Naruto hates his wayward chakra. That seal is the Nine Tails’ though, and Itachi, regardless of his genius, is _not_ a seal expert. He barely qualifies as a seal _beginner_. He’s not about to touch a seal that the Fourth created and set. The best he can do is focus Naruto on taijutsu and force him to wrangle his chakra into control. 

“Let’s get lunch,” Itachi calls over the noise of the waterfall and Naruto’s soft, consistent curses. 

Sasuke’s shoulders slump because “let’s get lunch” usually means “Sasuke make lunch.” No one ever taught Naruto to cook, and Itachi, as the eldest son, wasn’t expected to learn. Sasuke was the one who spent time with their mother in the kitchen, is the one who picked up actual cooking techniques and skills, so if they want to eat anything more than “roasted” or “baked” or “raw,” Sasuke usually does the cooking. 

Itachi is aware that Sasuke doesn’t especially like it, though he doesn’t seem to think it’s beneath him. Naruto’s idea of “excellent food” is instant ramen, which Itachi considers little better than salted cardboard, no matter what Naruto says, and he is learning to make the real stuff with Sasuke, but his attention span isn’t great for these kinds of tasks. At least they can both help with prep. The knifework is different from using a kunai normally, but similar enough to translate. 

“Hey, Sasuke! Can you make the little rabbit apples?” Naruto asks, eager and bright-eyed, despite still being wet. 

“Are you a toddler?” Sasuke asks, sighing, as he does nearly every time Naruto asks. 

“ _Please_?”

“Fine, but you’re airing out the futons.”

Naruto perks up. “I can do that!”

“Go get some dry clothes on too,” Itachi instructs. “Try not to drip everywhere.”

It gets him a vague salute, and Naruto scampers out. Sasuke grabs a couple apples and begins to cut them up as promised. 

Itachi can at least make onigiri. “I’m sorry to stick you with so much of the cooking.” Sasuke hasn’t complained—Sasuke almost never complains—but being the one responsible for most of their meals for the past two months has to be a little wearing. 

Sasuke shrugs. “Naruto would live off instant ramen, given the choice.” 

It’s not really an answer. Itachi sighs. The silence between them is thick with unasked questions and untold truths. Sasuke hasn’t asked, but it isn’t because he doesn’t _know_ , Itachi thinks. It’s been almost four months since leaving Konoha, but Sasuke hasn’t asked, hasn’t cried, hasn’t demanded or complained. Externalized emotion isn’t a strong point of Itachi’s, but he’s not blind to the changes in his brother. 

Sasuke is not warm and open with Itachi, not anymore. He doesn’t smile as easily, though Naruto still gets them. He doesn’t light up when he gets Itachi’s rare approval like he used to, just grimly accepts it. Itachi’s not sure if the changes would be so obvious if he didn’t have Naruto’s effusive earnestness to contrast it with, but he does, and it highlights Sasuke’s withdrawal from Itachi. 

Itachi doesn’t know how to begin this conversation, how to ask if Sasuke knows what he did. He clearly knows their parents, at least, are gone. Itachi hadn’t shielded him from that as well as he wanted to, and Sasuke has nightmares, sometimes. 

And when he has nightmares, it’s not Itachi he seeks comfort from. Not that Itachi has a great history with being comforting or emotionally supportive, but Sasuke has always treated him as if he were, and the slight, intended or not, stings a little. Even if he understands it. 

“Do you want to go back to Konoha?” Itachi asks, though it pains him. 

Sasuke freezes in the middle of cutting the “ears” of a rabbit in, but he doesn’t look up. The silence is nearly crushing before Sasuke breaks it. 

“No,” he says, soft but firm. 

_Do you know I killed our parents? Do you know I killed them all? Do you hate me for it? Do you want to know why? Why don’t you ask?_

The questions cluster in Itachi’s throat until he thinks he might choke on them, but his teeth and tongue and lips are a barricade they cannot overcome. It’s a relief when Naruto bursts in a few minutes later, a whirlwind of energy and ceaseless optimism. Not for the first time, Itachi is thankful that Naruto is there. Naruto, who has no idea what Itachi did, who doesn’t know what happened to the clan—might not even care if he did—who gives Sasuke someone to focus on and compete with and challenge himself against, who makes them smile and even makes Sasuke laugh sometimes. People skills have never been a strength of Itachi’s, and imagining what he and Sasuke would be like if Naruto weren’t around to keep them from drowning in silences full of too-terrible truths is painful. 

Naruto gushes over the apple rabbits. “They’re almost too cute to eat!”

“Then that means more for me,” Sasuke replies without missing a beat, but there’s the softest curl to his mouth as he says it while Naruto squawks in protest. 

The banter and teasing is familiar by now, this particular exchange well-tread even in just the few months they’ve been together. Naruto doesn’t point out—though he knows by now, even if he didn’t before—that Sasuke doesn’t really like sweet foods anyway, and Naruto is the one who prefers the apples. 

Itachi sets out the rice balls he’d been making on plates. “After lunch, you need to check the garden. Then I have a new exercise for you,” he says. 

The kitchen garden is now cleaned up and in order—after the better part of a week of weeding and figuring what everything was—so a daily comb through to pick the ripe vegetables and fruits isn’t time-consuming, especially not for incentivized young ninja. The boys stop their bantering, Naruto making sure they have everything they need set out while Sasuke rushes through the rest of prep. 

They’re all growing, and they can all put away substantial amounts of food, particularly expending as much energy as they do during training. After the first time they inhaled food so quickly they both made themselves sick, they’ve managed to keep it to a _much_ more reasonable pace. It might have something to do with Itachi telling them that if they did it again, they were going to have to eat it again. Their resources on the island are good, but not good enough that they can afford to waste food like that. 

Even eating at “a reasonable pace,” lunch is done quickly. Naruto goes straight for dish duty, while Sasuke starts making the rounds through the garden. He has been teaching Naruto what to look for, but he’s still the best at it. By the time Naruto is done, he comes back in with a decent handful and sets them aside for later. That done, Itachi tells them to meet him back at the waterfall. He has a training idea that is going to either massively accelerate their chakra control or be a breaking point. 

The citadel itself sits on a natural break on the mountain in the center of the island. Its base effectively backs up to a massive waterfall that is easily a hundred meters wide, and taller than the citadel itself. The pool at its base is enormous, and Itachi honestly wonders why there's no sign of hydraulics. It seems an obvious advantage to having the natural barrier behind the citadel. 

The boys took their time following, which was what Itachi told them to do. No point in eating at a reasonable pace only to make themselves sick by exerting themselves too much immediately after. 

Naruto, ever curious, asks first, “So what new training thing do you have planned for us here?” 

“Waterfall climbing.”

Both boys stare at him for a long moment. Sasuke then pointedly looks at the raging waterfall behind Itachi, then back to Itachi himself. 

Naruto scratches the back of his head, making a face. “Can you actually _do_ that?” he asks. 

It can be done, although it is _very_ difficult. It should really force their chakra pathways to stabilize and increase their capacity as well. 

Itachi turns, runs across the water and up the waterfall. 

It _might_ be a bit more difficult than he remembers it being. It’s not just about using chakra to hold the water together with enough surface tension to support one’s own weight, it’s about moving fast enough from that stable spot to make upward progress, even as the step you’re pushing off of is falling behind you. So, _difficult_ , yes, but certainly _doable_ , as long as you’re fast enough. 

Itachi is more than fast enough, so in short order, he’s standing on one of the few rocks at the top of the falls. He body flickers back down to the boys. “Well?” he says. They stop staring and get the focused look in their eyes they do every time he sets a new challenge before them. 

At least no one can accuse the boys of lacking determination. 

.o0o.o0o.o0o.

“ _Nii-san_!” Sasuke yells as he runs up to Itachi. Itachi is immediately on alert because Sasuke does not panic and does not call for him like that anymore. 

“What’s wrong?” he demands as Sasuke comes to a stop in front of him. 

“Naruto found something in the waterfall. Come on!” he reaches to grab Itachi’s hand, then aborts the gesture, instead turning to go back to the waterfall. 

“ _In_ the waterfall?” Itachi asks, confused, following Sasuke. Disappointment at the aborted touch twinges in his chest, but he ruthlessly pushes it down. It isn’t new behavior at this point. He resists the urge to just pick Sasuke up and rush. Sasuke’s running at a good tilt, but it isn’t a flailing, panicked reaction, like he first thought. 

When he gets to the waterfall, it takes a minute for him to see the stick randomly poking out from the waterfall, a good two thirds of the way up and more than halfway to the left edge. 

Six months ago, in Konoha, Itachi would have offered to give Sasuke a piggyback ride. Sasuke and Naruto have been working on climbing the waterfall for months now. Their progress has been slow—partially because Itachi had to limit the amount of training they did before they burned Sasuke’s chakra reserves out, and partially because neither of them were any good at training in moderation. One of them was going to drown because they were too exhausted to get out of the water if he had let them train as much as they wanted. 

Their progress has been slow, but if they are up to where that stick is, it is also significant. Maybe it isn't as fast as Itachi would have done it, but Naruto and Sasuke are not Itachi. 

Sasuke takes a deep breath, makes the seal to concentrate his chakra, even though it is probably usually unnecessary, then he darts across the water, leaping over the roiling crush at the bottom of the fall, and running up and a few feet _past_ where the stick was. Then, without warning, it looks like he is pulled into the waterfall, as if something has grabbed his foot and yanked him down. 

Itachi follows, targeting where the stick was and Sasuke had vanished, reaching through the falls and landing in what appears to be a small cave. The lighting is dim, even though it’s midday outside, the torrent of the falls block most of the light, and it takes Itachi a moment to realize the cave isn’t a cave—it’s an alcove. The walls are smooth and uniform, carved by human ingenuity, complete with the spiral sigils that decorate the island. This place isn’t an accident. 

Naruto and Sasuke are both soaked, Naruto standing behind a pillar set into the floor, Sasuke leaning on the wall, catching his breath. Getting up the waterfall is an accomplishment, but it’s one that still takes a toll. 

“What’s that?” Itachi asks. 

“Dunno,” Naruto says. “It’s got the same spiral that’s everywhere though,” he adds, poking at it. “Actually, the spiral on this one looks almost like a button, like you should be able to push it.” He pushes it, carefully at first, then harder, then, before Itachi can tell him to knock it off, he slaps his palm down on it and tries to push down with his whole body weight. He yelps and pulls his hand away, shaking it out. 

“What happened?” Sasuke asks, looking concerned and getting to his feet.

Naruto raises his palm to look at it. “It stabbed me.”

“Stabbed you?” Itachi asks. Black sealscript pours out of the center of the pillar, running down to the floor and vanishing _into_ the walls. The raised spiral on the pillar sinks down, like it’s a button, just as Naruto supposed. Then the whole pillar sinks into the floor, and the floor begins to move. There’s nothing to hold onto, but it’s not moving quickly, so they have little choice but to wait it out. The alcove moves out of the waterfall, and Itachi braces himself to grab Sasuke and Naruto in case the alcove falls into the water, but it comes to a stop with the dull rumble of stone on stone, far enough beyond the rush of the falls that barely any water drips over the entrance. At the other end of the lengthened hall, a doorway has appeared. 

Itachi shoots a hard glare at Naruto, who winces. “Stay there, and don’t touch anything else,” he commands, walking to the edge of the alcove. There are a couple of notches in the stone that make for good grips, and Itachi uses one to lean out. What he sees startles him so badly, he nearly falls. 

Towers and spires and bridges now stick out of the falls, some of the spires rising above its crest, many reminding him of huts hung on trees. There are winding stairs and spirals, window slits—it’s as though a castle has been built into the very fall itself. 

He startles again when Sasuke enters his line of sight, leaning out. 

“I told you to stay there,” Itachi snaps.

“You told Naruto to stay put,” Sasuke says without a bit of apology, looking around wide-eyed and with not a little bit of awe. 

“What’s so cool?” Naruto demands, coming over to them, and holding onto Sasuke’s shoulder as a grip. “ _Whoa_ …”

Itachi sighs as he rights himself and pulls both boys back from the edge firmly. He should be used to being blatantly ignored by now. They are selectively obedient at best. Most of the reason they do the training he sets them to is because they want to do it anyway. 

“Is it going to go away again?” Naruto asks. 

“Where did it stab you?” Itachi asks.

“Just in my hand,” Naruto says, holding out the affected hand for verification. In the center of his palm, where he’d pushed down on the spiral, is a pinprick. Itachi frowns and goes over to what was the pillar and kneels down before it. Now it looks like a tile carved into the floor, and the sealscript is gone. He pulls out a kunai and runs the flat edge of it over the spiral, but it doesn’t catch on anything. There doesn’t even appear to be any blood on it. 

“Where do you think you two are going?” Itachi asks, looking up to see them both creeping toward the doors at the end of the hall. 

A silent conversation passes between them with looks and shrugs and body language that seems to be getting more subtle every time Itachi catches them doing it. He’s not sure how he feels about how close they are, but he supposes the reality is they are each other’s only real companion. It’s not like they have anyone else to bond with other than him, and he and Sasuke are as far apart as they’ve ever been. 

“Naruto was able to make the sigil move,” Sasuke finally says. “Maybe he can open the door.”

“Maybe it doesn’t even need anything special?” Naruto offers. “We haven’t even tried it yet. It might not be locked.”

“This entire structure was hidden,” Itachi points out reasonably. “I doubt a door revealed when the structure was would be unlocked.”

Another conversation passes between them. 

This time, Naruto speaks first. “We won’t know till we try.”

Sasuke’s arms are crossed, but he watches Itachi with expectant eyes, nearly challenging him. 

Itachi doesn’t wince, but it’s a closer thing than he’d like to admit. Instead, he sighs. “Let me at least try it first. I’ll be better able to handle any traps.”

“We’ll be right behind you!” Naruto says as though he’s reassuring Itachi. The enthusiasm is appreciated, if misplaced. 

Risking running a foot over the tile that had been the pillar, Itachi feels nothing. No needles, nothing to catch on, just smooth tile. Nothing happens when he steps past it either, so Itachi turns most of his attention to the doors themselves and activates his sharingan. Nothing about the doorway appears unusual, but then, nothing appears unusual when he glances back over at what was the pillar. It doesn’t mean that there aren’t traps. 

Cautiously, he nudges the door with a foot. There’s a large spiral sigil inset between them, but no obvious locking mechanism. He’s not surprised when the doors don’t budge. He pushes harder with his foot, putting some actual power behind it, but nothing happens, the red spiral just glares at him, as if daring him. He snaps out a hit at the spiral, leaping back as quickly as he can, but nothing happens. 

Naruto leans over. “There’s a tiny needle here,” he says. 

Itachi checks his hand, but there’s no sign of damage or a prick. He must have been too fast. He approaches the door again, and sure enough, in the dead center of the spiral is a tiny needle sticking out. And not just any needle—a hollow one. 

“Naruto, let me see your hand again,” Itachi commands. 

Naruto frowns, but does as asked. Itachi pulls out a senbon and catches Naruto in the palm where he’d been pricked before with it. 

“Hey!” Naruto protests, pulling his hand away, though it’s bleeding more heavily now. 

“Hopefully you weren’t poisoned,” Itachi says, using the senbon to place a single drop of Naruto’s blood on it. It’s a hunch, but Naruto seems unharmed from the first needle. 

The spiral shifts, then breaks in half and slides apart. 

“That seems a little too easy,” Sasuke says. itachi agrees wholeheartedly with his skepticism and wishes he’d tried his or Sasuke’s blood first to see if it reacted. Then again, his or Sasuke’s might have permanently sealed it. 

_Seals_. 

The seals on the pillar must have been tied to blood. But why Naruto’s? 

Spirals. _Uzumaki_. Itachi feels _stupid_ , which doesn’t happen often. Uzumaki isn’t a Konoha clan name, but he’ll bet it’s an _Uzushio_ one. 

“Well?” Naruto asks. “Are we gonna go in since you stabbed me?” He’s moved over to Sasuke’s side, and Sasuke is checking his hand, pausing to shoot an unhappy look at Itachi. 

He’s going to be more unhappy in a second. “I think you should open the doors, Naruto.”

Sasuke’s head snaps up to glare at him at the same time Naruto asks, “Huh? Why me?”

“Let’s see if you can open it, and I’ll explain.”

Yet another quick, silent conversation. They walk over together, Sasuke turning to face Itachi, putting his back to Naruto’s. Itachi isn’t sure if he’s protecting Naruto from a potential threat or if he’s protecting him from Itachi. He’s certainly not going to ask. 

Naruto straightens his shoulders, pushes on the doors with his bloody hand. Sealscript explodes out of the door, but they give way beneath his touch, opening wide, even though the boys had moved back. Falling into a defensive stance, Naruto waits for a few moments to see if anything else happens, then stalks forward a step or two, Sasuke following in sync with him, even without looking. Lights begin flickering and turning on, running the length of a giant hall, revealing rows upon rows of shelves and _books_. 

“It’s a library,” Itachi says, following after them carefully. A library sealed with blood. When he glances over at the spiral seal, it’s clean, no sign of Naruto’s blood staining it, and all the sealscript is gone as well.

“A _library_? Behind a _waterfall_?” Naruto asks, sounding awed. 

Itachi doesn’t blame him. The place looks nearly untouched, stacks upon stacks upon stacks of tomes and scrolls. Even if it’s not _all_ ninja-related, some of it _must_ be, otherwise, why hide it? Why seal it so thoroughly? 

“They managed to hide this place,” Sasuke comments. When Itachi raises an eyebrow at him, he elaborates. “When the city fell, they hid this place.”

“But how?” Naruto asks. “I mean, people had to have known this was here, right? It looks like someone just closed the doors and walked away.”

It’s a good point. A library this extensive had to be known. Maybe no one was willing to give it up? But then, why not come back? 

“A library does explain why we found so much dried ink and paper,” Itachi comments, deactivating his sharingan. There’s nothing he can see that’s a threat in this place. It appears Naruto’s blood has been all the permission they need to access it. 

“But why Naruto’s blood?” Sasuke asks, turning suspicious eyes on Itachi. 

“I didn’t know this was here,” Itachi says flatly. “If I did, I’d have had you looking for it sooner.” 

“Obviously,” Naruto says with impatience. “But why me? Why’d my blood work?” 

Sasuke beats Itachi to it, turning to ask Naruto, “What’s the sigil all over the ruins?” 

“A—” Naruto smacks himself in the side of the head, though not that hard. “ _spiral_.” He frowns for a moment, then asks, “Is that why no one in Konoha liked me? Because I was a foreigner?”

“You were born in Konoha.” Itachi is confident of that at least, and equally confident that the Kyuubi is why the villagers avoid Naruto. Unfortunately, while ANBU had liked to complain about the container, they didn’t like to complain about his parents, so Itachi has to go off faint memories of Kushina. “But I think your mother must have been from Uzushio.”

“You knew my mom?” Naruto asks, eyes going wider than they had been when looking out at the spires and towers. 

“She was friends with our mother,” Itachi says shortly, not wanting to think about his mother. 

“Do you know—?”

“She died,” Itachi says in a tone that cuts Naruto off cold. “I only met her in passing once or twice. I didn’t know her.”

“What was her name?” Naruto asks, focused on Itachi with a determination Itachi has never seen from him. Sasuke watches him from over Naruto’s shoulder, cold and angry. 

“Kushina,” Itachi says. “Uzumaki Kushina. They gave you her name, and that’s all I really know,” he says. “Let’s take a look around, but keep an eye out for traps.”

There are long, dust-covered tables and benches, as well as what must have been a main desk. Itachi goes to investigate the desk while the boys make their way toward the stacks. It’s both annoying and promising that the filing system appears to be coded. It wouldn’t be coded if there were nothing of value here, but at the same time, codes are not Itachi’s specialty. Who knows how long it’ll take for him to break it to be able to find anything? 

They’re going to have to try and dust this place too. There must be air circulation from somewhere, but Itachi isn’t sure of where, but there’s no scent of must or mold. The air itself is surprisingly dry considering they must be _behind_ the waterfall. 

He’s got several cards laid out before him when there’s a crash of books and a distinctly Naruto yelp, followed quickly by Sasuke’s exasperated, “ _Naruto_ …” floating back to him. 

“We’re okay!” Naruto yells, but Itachi is already most of the way to them, following the crash. He finds the boys in a dissipating dust cloud—dusting is definitely going to have to go higher on the priority list— picking up several dozen scrolls and books that look like they came from several shelves. 

“Why were you climbing the shelves?” Itachi asks. 

“Naruto spotted a book that said _Uzumaki_ on the spine,” Sasuke explains. He shifts the volumes he’s picked up in his hands, eyeing the shelf before him, trying to figure out which book fell off which shelf. 

“Found it!” Naruto says, shifting his own stack, though instead of trying to find the proper place to put it back, he just sets it on the floor in front of the section. When he stands back up, he holds the precious volume up for Itachi’s inspection. 

“ _The Spiral_ : _A History of Uzushiogakure_ ,” Itachi reads. 

“I know,” Naruto says. “It won’t tell us how the village fell, but it might tell us more about the people who lived here?” 

Itachi shrugs. “It’s as good a place to start as any,” he says. _And maybe it will keep the two of you out of trouble while I try to crack this code_. “Why don’t you go through it together?”

Naruto frowns at Itachi, but Sasuke gives up trying to figure out where his stack goes, instead setting it next to Naruto’s. He grabs Naruto’s wrist, towing him along, ignoring Naruto’s squawk. “Come on,” he says, dragging him back to the main area. “Let’s see what’s in there.”

Itachi glances through the remaining titles and finds another one of interest. “ _Commentary on the Uzushio-Konoha Alliance_ ,” he reads aloud to himself. 

It appears they all have some studying to do. 

.o0o.o0o.o0o.

They stay in the library, engrossed in their respective topics until Naruto’s stomach complains loudly enough to echo through the library. Naruto laughs nervously, but Itachi stretches his back up. He’s been hunched over the code for far too long anyway, and even he’s feeling hungry, which means they’ve probably been in here long past dinner. 

“Let’s go,” he says. Both Sasuke and Naruto look reluctant to leave. 

“Can we take the book with us?” Naruto asks. It’s not a thick tome, unlike the dictionary Sasuke had dug out at some point, reminding Itachi they’re only eight and have a lot of characters to learn yet. But they hadn’t complained about what must have been a complex text, given how often he saw them looking up characters, just battled their way through it. 

“I don’t know if we want to risk getting the books wet,” Itachi points out. They might be able to protect the volume Naruto has, but Sasuke’s dictionary is another question entirely. 

“There’s a stairway in the tower,” Sasuke says. Itachi blinks at him. “I saw it open when Naruto opened the doors.”

Itachi frowns. “Leave it for tomorrow. Neither of you will sleep if you bring it with.”

They give him pleading looks for a minute, and when Itachi is unmoved, change to mutinous ones. 

“We don’t know if this place will open again!” Naruto says.

“I think it will,” Itachi says. “Even if we have to use your blood to open it every time.”

Naruto grumps, and Sasuke looks longingly at the book Naruto has, but he knows when Itachi isn’t going to budge. 

“We can come back tomorrow,” Sasuke says with something like a promise in his voice. 

Naruto looks at him for a minute, then relents. “Okay,” he says, pulling out a piece of tag paper and using it to mark their place with care. “Tomorrow.” 

Itachi doesn’t know why Naruto’s glaring at him. Naruto is the one who was able to open this place—Itachi would have a hard time refusing it to him. 

When they leave, the doors close behind them automatically, grinding together as if they are locking, which further confirms that he probably can’t keep Naruto out of this place, even if he wanted to. The alcove is dark enough, that they have to feel along the walls to the edge. Itachi finds the doorway Sasuke spoke of, but it’s pitch black, and he’s unwilling to try it in the dark. Instead, he grabs both boys by their collars and body flickers down to the shore. 

They turn and look up at the tower structure in the moonlight. If anything, it’s even more impressive with some distance and perspective, but it doesn’t move and shows no sign of vanishing back into the falls. Even if it does, they know where to look for it now. 

Naruto’s stomach interrupts the peaceful scene, and he complains, “My stomach is gonna eat itself! C’mon, Sasuke! Race you back!” And then he’s off, as if he doesn’t make himself leave, he’ll never go. 

Sasuke pauses a moment, and says, “You asked if I wanted to go back to Konoha.” He only waits until he’s sure he has Itachi’s eyes on him before he continues. “No. There’s nothing there for me.” Without waiting for Itachi to reply, he dashes after Naruto, a flickering figure to Itachi’s normal sight. 

A small knot loosens in Itachi’s chest. 

_There’s nothing there for me._

Which means there _is_ something here for him. Whether it’s Itachi or Naruto or Uzushio or the library, Itachi supposes it doesn’t matter. What matters is that Sasuke _has something_ , which he would not have had if Itachi had left him behind. It may not be much, but it’s enough. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ This beautiful art](https://www.deviantart.com/supanova89/art/Waterfall-Tower-518314351) inspired the towers in the waterfall. It came up while I was image-searching for Uzushio, and I absolutely _had_ to use it. 
> 
> This is the end for this part of the Precipice series. Not sure when I'll get back to it, but I have some definite ideas bouncing around. Let me know what you thought!


End file.
